BH. Iyar
26, 5775 / May 15, 2015
Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 7:53 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 9:01 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
SCHOLARSHIP TRIBUTE? Why is the annual Maimonides Dinner (this year June 1st) called a “Scholarship Tribute”? Good question. It’s actually not a tribute to scholarship (which might be another very good idea) instead its called that because the proceeds of the dinner each year goes towards the school’s scholarship fund which helps families who can’t pay full tuition or who have multiple children in school. There is a large gap between tuition and the school’s budget each year, and fundraisers and communal support like the school’s dinner help bridge that gap. And tribute? Every year since 1989, the school honors men and women in the community who exemplify the values and legacy of Dr. Morton Berger. In past years we also had group honorees such as Educators for Rashi 900, the Zahir awards, and the Partridge Street Oral History Project, and individual awards such as the Bezalel Award, Eitz Chayim Award, Community Service Award and Educator Award. This year’s dinner presents the Dr. Berger Memorial Award to Bill and Adrienne Rockwood and recognizes the BetterTogether program which was a major highlight at school this year.
This MC Newsletter is sponsored in loving memory of
Kay Greengarten
LEARNING TO READ A 7th grade TNT photographer captured this shot of Kindergartners practicing two and three Hebrew letters with varying vowels, as they learn to read!
Yartzeit Today: 26 Iyar by her daughter “Morah Devorah” Debbie & Sid Stark and Family
COLORING IN CIRCLE TIME
Usually, Nursery does their coloring at their tables, but this time Mrs. Hoffman did a group exercise using DR JOE’S DANDELION WINE crayons at circle time. Changing things up keeps it interesting! One day at the end of class, Dr. Joe’s HS Boys went out and picked a big bag of dandelions. He took them home to turn into Dandelion Wine, and updates them now and then on the progress. It starts off as a tea, and then begins MHDS JOURNAL ADS DUE 5/21 to ferment. He asks them what they imagine it The extended Shavuos Memorial Day weekend would be like at this step in the process eats into our Journal prep time this year, so we (hypotheses) and then he shares the actual ask that people be as timely as possible with results and they discuss it together. Dandelions submitting their Journal Ads, the latest by May are pretty and a bright sign of spring, but they 21st, but earlier is better! Ads arriving after “K” IS FOR KITE are actually a weed and aren’t so good for May 21st will be included in the Journal Nursery students each made colorful kites on lawns. This can be an example of a turning a supplement. Thanks for your support! paper as they learned the letter K. They aren’t negative into a positive (see this week’s High-5) flying away anywhere but they are hanging as it relates to the “Tochacha” curses in this RATIO OF EFFORT TO VALUE high up in their classroom. week’s Parsha Bechukotai. Rabbi Yossi’s 6th grade Gemorah class learned about this in their Eilu Metziyos Gemorah MAIMONIDES class. The specific setting was a granary 404 Partridge Street threshing floor, but the same question can be Albany NY 12208 applied to many life situations. Is it really worth the effort? Does the value and result justify extra effort?
NETZACH & HOD IN ACTION Morah Chaya Bracha learned with the 6th and 7th grade girls about the Sefirot of Netzach and Hod and assigned them a project to each write a story of how they overcame an obstacle and reached a goal using these two Sefirot.